


Traitor

by m3adrid



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, F/M, Rating May Change, Romance, Supernatural Elements, female OC POV, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 06:31:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1888524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3adrid/pseuds/m3adrid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the daughter of Kate Argent, I’m expected to hunt and kill werewolves. And for a long time, that was okay with me. Until I decided that they needed protecting. Starting at S1E4</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing Teen Wolf fan fiction! The first few chapters are a little bit rough, but I hope everyone likes it. I'll be writing warnings/ratings at the top of each chapter.

“I don’t want to go to Beacon Hills High School, Mom! Allison hates me and all of my friends are back in Malibu!” I whine to my mom. “C’mon, please! I get that you’re calling this a visit, but you packed everything we owned, practically. I know that we aren’t going back to Malibu. Why can’t you just home school me or something?”

“Stop being annoying and go say hi to your cousin. She was happy to see me,” Mom says with a small smile.

“That’s because she doesn’t think you’re a conceited bitch,” I mutter under my breath. I walk up to Allison’s room and knock on the door. There’s no answer, and I open the door. The room is empty. I check the time and see that I’m late for school. “Mom! I need you to drop me off at the school.”

 

The first bell hasn’t rung yet, and I see Allison standing in a group of four people. Before I can go over and say hi, a pretty blonde girl walks up to me and gives me a large smile. “Are you new here?” she asks.

“Yeah, I just moved here from Malibu,” I say.

“Oh, Malibu. That’s so cool! I love your jacket. It’s a Valentino, right?” I look at the girl, surprised. She’s actually very pretty, with wavy blonde hair, happy blue eyes, and clear skin. She reminds me of my best friend back home, Chanel.

“It is! I’m surprised you noticed,” I say with a smile.

“Please, the girls in this town wouldn’t know a Valentino from a Vivianne Westwood. If you stick with my friends and me, we’ll have a ton of fun together. I’m Tristian Woods.”

“Mercedes Argent.”

“Like Allison Argent, the girl who just moved here?”

“She’s my cousin. I’m actually going to go and say hi to her right now. What’s your first period?”

“World History,” Tristian says.

“I have that class first. Wait for me; I’ll be right back.” I turn to go and say hello to my lovely cousin. I walk over to her.

“What’re you doing here? Kate didn’t say anything about you being with her.” Allison frowns at me. The boy to her right, with the short hair, stares at me.

“Aw, come on. That’s no way to greet your cousin.” I smile at her.

“Seriously, Mercedes. Why are you here?”

“My mom wasn’t going to leave me in Malibu while your family moved again. She decided it might be fun if we could ‘connect’, or whatever. So unfortunately, you’re stuck  
with me.” I glance at the boy to her left. He has a mop of brown hair and a puzzled expression on his face. “You must be the boyfriend.”

“Sadie, don’t,” Allison says, calling me by my old childhood name.

“What?” I give her boyfriend a smile. “He’s like a little puppy.” Her boyfriend’s eyes widen, and I smile wider. “So adorable.”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Allison says. My smile falters and I look back to her.

“Look, I’m sorry. Really. But I’m stuck here with you, so we might as well make the best of it.” Allison considers my offer for a few seconds before nodding.

“Fine. This is Stiles.” She gestures to the boy with short hair. “My boyfriend, Scott.” Scott gives me an uneasy smile. “And Lydia and Jackson,” she points to the couple to my  
right. “But I swear, Sadie, if you do anything to ruin my friendships, I’ll…”

“I know, I know, you’ll make me regret it. But the thing is, Allison, you’ve always been too kind for that stuff. So don’t make threats you can’t keep.” My gaze shifts to Scott. 

“I’ll see you around,” I say directly to him. I blow him a kiss and start walking backwards. Allison glares at me as I turn around and walk back over to Tristian.

“I thought she was going to try and hit you or something,” Tristian says with a laugh. “I’ve never seen her angry.”

“Then you’re in for a show,” I say, laughing as well. I look back at Allison over my shoulder once more and smile at her. Maybe going to school here won’t be so bad.

 

The school day flies by with ease. My classes are so simple, a five year old could answer questions correctly. I noticed that Lydia isn’t as dumb as she acts, which I find fascinating. Jackson acted oddly at lunch, and Allison was upset with Stiles because he asked me to sit with them. I brought Tristian to the table with me, so I’d at least have two people on my side. I befriended Jackson and Lydia. Scott didn’t say anything to me, Allison glared at me the entire time, and Stiles watched me out of the corner of his eye.

Judging by Scott’s reaction, I was right by guessing he was a werewolf. He’s got this smell about him that makes it obvious. I think that Stiles might know as well. I close my locker and take everything in. I can’t tell Mom or Uncle Chris that Allison’s boyfriend is most likely a werewolf. So for now, I’ll keep it to myself. I walk out to the student parking lot and find there’s a man standing in front of a blue Jeep. Stiles gets out of the car and Scott rushes up to the man as he collapses. I run to them and crouch down by the guy’s head. Scott and Stiles immediately stop talking as soon as I reach them.

The black hair, the bright blue eyes, and the jaw line reminds me of someone I met a few years ago. “Are you Derek Hale?” I ask quietly. He stares up at me with no expression on his face. “I know your sister, Laura.”

Scott looks at me. “She’s dead.” I raise my eyebrows, and help Derek up. “Let’s put him in the Jeep.”

“Do you…do you want to come with us?” Stiles asks. Scott punches his arm.

“I guess I don’t really have a choice. There’s no way Allison would want to drive me. Thanks, Stiles.” I climb in back as Stiles starts up his car. Derek is sitting in the passenger seat and sweating. “What’s up with you?”

“I’m just feeling kind of sick,” Derek spits out.

“Wolfsbane poisoning?” I ask. Derek turns around. “My mom is the hunter who shot you. You know what you need to do, right? You’re going to die, at the latest, by tomorrow if you don’t get healed.”

“I should kill you.”  
“You really shouldn’t. If it was possible, I would go and get one of my mom’s bullets myself, but she doesn’t trust me anymore. I’m not a hunter.” Stiles and Derek exchange a glance. “I know everything. I know about Scott, too.” I sit back and tune out Stiles and Derek while they argue. Before I know it, we’re at some vet place. Stiles explained to me that Scott works here. By the time we make it to the back room, Derek’s breathing is laborious. I inch my way towards him and reach out to touch his shoulder.

“Get away from me.” Derek grips onto the metal table and stares down at his hands. I begin to rub his back in a slow, gentle motion, causing him to finally relax a little bit. “When the infection reaches my heart, it’ll kill me.” He starts to stumble around, looking in cabinets.

“Positivity just isn’t in your vocabulary, is it?” Stiles asks. I try to stifle my laughter.

“If he doesn’t get here with the bullet in time, last resort.”

Stiles and I exchange a confused look. “Which is…?” Stiles asks.

“You’re going to cut off my arm,” Derek says with complete certainty. I shuffle backwards until I find a seat behind me. Stiles looks like he might faint. Derek pushes a saw across the metal table to Stiles. Stiles picks it up and stares at it.

He presses the power button and immediately flicks it off. “Oh my God.” Derek starts tying a band around his bicep. “What if you bleed to death?”

“It’ll heal if it works.” Derek keeps tying. Stiles looks at me in disbelief.

“There has to be some other way!” I say.

“It’s either Scott brings the bullet or Stiles cuts my arm off,” Derek says as he glances towards me. “There’s no alternative.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Stiles says. He looks sick.

“Why not?”

“Well, because, the cutting through the flesh, the sawing through the bone, and especially the blood!”

Derek lets his infected arm fall onto the table, making a thumping noise. “You faint at the sight of blood?”

“No, but I might at the sight of a chopped off arm!”

Derek looks at me again. “I’m with Stiles on this one.” I shrug.

“Alright, fine,” Derek sighs. “How about this? You’re going to cut off my arm, or I’m going to cut off your head.”

“Alright! I’ll do it!” Stiles says as Derek starts to throw up blood. “Oh my God, what is that?”

“It’s his body trying to heal itself,” I say.

“Now. You’ve gotta do it now,” Derek commands. Stiles picks up the saw and I walk over to the table.

“I honestly don’t think I can,” Stiles says.

“Just do it now!”

“Here we go!” Stiles says while resting the saw on Derek’s arm. I decide to cover my eyes.

“Stiles?” A voice yells from the entrance of the store. I uncover my eyes.

Stiles pauses and looks up. “Scott?” He nearly smiles as Scott walks into the room.

Scott sees Stiles poised to cut off Derek’s arm and panics. “What the hell are you doing?” Stiles and I smile at each other.

“Lifetime of nightmares, prevented.” Stiles leans against the wall behind him.

“Did you get the bullet?” Derek asks.

Scott digs it out of his pocket and hands it to Derek. “What’re you going to do with it?” Stiles asks.

“I’m gonna…” Derek says. His eyelids flutter shut, and he collapses to the floor. Scott dives and tries to catch the bullet that Derek dropped, and Stiles and I sit next to  
Derek and try to wake him up.

“What’re we going to do?” Stiles says frantically.

“I don’t know!” Scott yells.

“I think he’s dying. I think he’s dead!”

“Stiles, try slapping him or something. Maybe that’ll work!” I say.

“I got it!” Scott says.

“Please don’t kill me for this,” Stiles mutters under his breath as he reaches his arm back and punches Derek in the face. “OW!” He cradles his hand.

“Look, he’s waking up,” I say. Derek sits up, grabs the bullet, and bites it open. He pours the wolfsbane out onto the table and lights it on fire. Then he scoops up the burnt remains and digs it into his bullet wound. Derek falls to the floor and yells in pain as Scott, Stiles, and I stare at him. The bullet wound begins to heal normally.

“That was awesome!” Stiles shouts out. “Yes!”

“Are you okay?” Scott asks.

“Except for the agonizing pain,” Derek snaps.

“I guess the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health,” Stiles says. Derek glares at him.

“We helped you, now you need to leave us alone! Or else I’m going to go to Allison’s dad and tell him everything!” Scott threatens.

“You’re going to trust them? You think they can help you?”

“Why not? They’re a lot nicer than you.”

“Derek’s right, Scott. They’re kind to you because you’re Allison’s cute new boyfriend.” Derek looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “But if they knew what you are… They’d kill you to keep themselves safe. Or at least, my mother would. Allison’s dad at least has a code that he follows. He wouldn’t kill you because you’re young and you haven’t hurt anyone. My mom is the one who got Allison involved in archery in the first place. In our family, once you’re eight, you’re competing in archery competitions. So no, they wouldn’t help you. By going to them, you’d get yourself killed. I’m the only one who has rebelled against them and sided with a werewolf. Allison is the only one who doesn’t know anything. They’re keeping her in the dark for a reason, Scott. You have to be careful around them,” I say.

“Like you’re any different from them,” Derek scoffs.

“Your sister was my friend, Derek. I saved her life once. Laura is the reason I chose not to become a hunter. You have no right to judge me because of my family.”

“Don’t I?”

“What does that mean?” Scott asks.

“Come on. We’re going on a little trip,” Derek says. “Just Scott and I.” He shoots me a pointed look. He’s brutally hot, sure, but he’s blaming how my family is on me, and I have no interest in dealing with that.

“I can drive you home, Mercedes,” Stiles offers. I smile at him.

“Thanks, Stiles. That’d be great.”

 

I walk up the driveway as soon as Allison walks outside. She glares at me for a moment. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I was with Stiles. Your boyfriend made an appearance. He’s really nice.” She sighs. “I wasn’t joking or anything, by the way.”

“Sure, Mercedes.” She looks around the driveway. “Hey, where’s your car?”

“Back at home. I’ll probably go and get it sometime, if we end up staying, which it looks like we might.”

“Do you miss home?” Allison walks down to meet me.

“Yeah, I do. All of my friends were there. But hey, some things happen for a reason.” Allison looks at Mom’s car oddly. “What?”

“I just stepped on glass.”

“So?”

“There’s glass on the door of your mom’s car.”

“So?”

“So why would there be glass there?”

I gulp. I got into town with my mom, when the Alpha attacked the car. Allison can’t know any of this. She thinks I got in this morning, right before school. “I have no clue. Should we ask her?”

“I don’t know. You know, my dad said she had a flat tire last night. But she said she needed a jump start.” I look over at Allison. “It’s weird. But hey, guess what happened tonight.”

“I really wouldn’t know.”

“Scott was over to study, and I ended up showing him my old bow. Then my dad caught us and tried to kick him out, but Kate ended up making him stay for dinner. But when Scott tried to go home, your mom accused him of stealing something from her bag and I had to prove that it was me.”

“Wait, Alli, what’d you steal?” The old nickname feels foreign on my tongue, but Allison usually never shares this type of things with me.

She looks at the ground and blushes. “I stole a condom.”

I practically burst into laughter. “What? Are you serious?” Allison nods.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to you about anything like this,” Allison comments.

“You’re right. We should do it more often.” Allison smiles and nods again. “C’mon, let’s go inside.”

We each go to our own bedrooms, and I hear my phone beep. I check it, and see that Stiles had texted me. ‘scott said that derek told him about how ur family set the hale house on fire 6 yrs ago. is that true?’

‘i wouldnt know. i can try to find out.’ I sneak down the stairs and hear my mom and Chris talking.

“The one that attacked me was big, it had power. But the one I shot was lean and fast,” Mom says.

“That would be Derek Hale,” Chris says.

“Are you sure?”

“Mostly.”

“How do we know it’s just the two of them?”

“We don’t, yet.” Mom sighs at Chris’ words. “But if Derek’s still alive, he will lead us to the Alpha.” Mom turns the fireplace on.

“Take the pack leader, then take the pack. I like it.” I peek around the corner and see my mom and uncle talking. My mom is still beautiful, but that makes sense. She was only sixteen when I was born. Then, when Derek was around sixteen years old, she and my uncle set the hale house on fire? If it was six years ago, then I would have been ten, and my mom would have been twenty-six. It seems impossible.

“But we do it according to the code,” Chris says. I know the code like the back of my hand. We hunt those who hunt us.

“You and the code,” Mom says in an irritated voice.

“It’s there for a reason, Kate.” As much as I don’t agree with my uncle Chris on most things, he is right about this. Once we abandon the code, we are the ones who become the monsters.

“Of course.” Mom strikes a match and it catches fire. She tosses it into the fireplace. “I can play by the rules.”

I run back up the stairs and close my door. What she did with the fire was so deliberate. And all of that talk about the code? We all know she has issues following it. Unfortunately, I think there might be some truth to what Derek said. I think that my mother is the one who set the fire that killed Derek’s family.


	2. Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Allison's birthday and Derek and Mercedes actually speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: PG-13

“Happy birthday!” I sing as I sit in Allison’s room early on the morning of her birthday. “Wake the hell up so we can get to school, seventeen year old!”

“Go away,” Allison mutters. “I don’t want to go to school.”

“Too bad! If I’m going, you’re going too.”

Allison covers her head with her blanket and I go to change out of my pajamas.

After I settle on a white dress and black leather jacket, I go back into Allison’s room to make sure she’s awake. I hear my mother’s voice inside and decide to listen in. “I love it!” I hear Allison say.

“It’s a family heirloom. You know me, I hate and loathe all sentimental crap, but if you want to learn something about your family, look it up using the image on that necklace,” Mom says. I know exactly what necklace Mom gave Allison. It’s a pendant with an image of a snarling wolf on it. If Allison looked it up, she would find out that the Argent family allegedly hunted werewolves. Chris would be angry if he found out Mom gave Allison that and told her to look it up.

Allison walks out and sees me standing there. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were waiting for me. You ready?”

“I’m just going to say goodbye to my mom,” I explain as I walk into Allison’s room, which is where my mom is still standing. “You’re walking on eggshells, Mom.”

“She deserves to know the truth.”

“She’ll know the truth when Chris feels she’s ready. You’re forgetting that she isn’t your child, and she isn’t like me.” I raise my eyebrows at Mom. “I’ll see you later.”

 

When we get to the school, Allison and I go to her locker after mine. She opens the locker and jumps when balloons float out. She frantically tries to stuff them back inside the locker and glares at me. “Lydia?” she asks.

“I think so. I just made an off-hand remark about it, I didn’t think she’d go all out.” Allison continues to glare at me. “Sorry!” Allison sighs. “I’m going to go find Stiles.”

I make my escape just as Scott walks up. He looks surprised to see me and Allison together. “Hi?”

“Hi, Scott. Is Stiles at his locker?” Scott nods, and I keep walking down the hallway to find Stiles. I find him rooting through his locker and muttering to himself. I quietly walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist while resting my chin on his shoulder. "Hey."

Stiles twists around and smiles at me. “Mercedes, hey! You ready for chemistry homeroom?”

“Not really, but at least I understand it. Is the teacher nice?”

He shuts his locker and we start to walk to class together. “No. He’s kind of an asshole.”

During homeroom, Stiles tries to get Danny’s attention, but Danny keeps ignoring him. I’d usually just bat my eyelashes to get him to talk, but that won’t exactly work with Danny.

I lean forward and whisper. “Danny?”

Danny turns around. “Yeah?”

“Stiles is really concerned about Lydia and everything that happened last night. Would you mind telling him what you know? Because really, I don’t think I can stand to hear his obsessing all day long.” I offer Danny a sweet smile that I reserve for teachers when I want extra credit.

He nods. “Sure, okay. What do you want to know?” Stiles nods at me gratefully.

 

After lunch I don’t have class, so I decide to go to the Hale house and look for Derek. “Derek?” I find him with his shirt off in the front hallway. “Do you just never wear a shirt?”

“What do you want?” Derek frowns at me.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday. I mean, you were really messed up. Last night I started wondering if there would be any lasting effects.” Derek studies my face.

“You were thinking about me last night?” I search for an answer in my head. “You aren’t like the other hunters.”

“I’m hardly a hunter at all, but since you know so much about my family, I’m sure you knew that.” I don’t mean to sound harsh, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I sound like I’m accusing him.

Derek smiles. “If your family hadn’t burnt my family’s house down, I would have no problem with them.”

“That’s also something I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t think it was all of my family. I don’t think it was Chris or Victoria, because they follow a specific set of rules. My mom doesn’t like those rules and tends to do whatever she wants to. I try to get in the way to stop her sometimes, but she’s smart. Even my mom couldn’t burn down a house filled with innocent people in it, though. She couldn’t do it if there were humans there.” I notice Derek sizing me up. “And before you say anything, it wasn’t me. I was ten when it happened.”

“I wasn’t going to say that. You seem to have very distinct opinions about hunters and werewolves.” He pulls on a shirt, much to my disappointment. “Were you close with Laura?”

“Yes. She was one of my only friends when I was eleven. I stopped my mom from killing her when I jumped in front of Laura. Mom doesn’t exactly follow the code. After that incident, Laura and I became friends, and I stopped training to be a hunter. Mom isn’t so cruel that she’d kick me out, and I couldn’t exactly leave.” Derek leans against a worn down desk and listens to me intently. “Who killed her?”

“I don’t know. I thought it might be the hunters in this town, but I don’t know. Once I figure out who the Alpha is, he can help me find out exactly who her killer is.” I walk to Derek and sit next to him. Our shoulders touch, making my nerve endings tingle pleasantly. “Scott refuses to help.”

“He didn’t want any of this. He didn’t want to be a werewolf. I guess I can understand that.” I sigh and rest my head on Derek’s shoulder. “He doesn’t want to lose Allison. That I don’t understand. Being with her is a death sentence. Werewolves and hunters can’t work.”

Derek stands and moves in front of me. “I thought she wasn’t a hunter.”

“She isn’t yet, but my mom is very insistent that Chris tells Allison the truth about our family.” I shake my head. “It won’t end well for Scott.”

“If hunters and werewolves are so bad together, why are you here?” Derek asks. I try to come up with a viable answer, but can’t. I stay silent. Derek cradles my cheek with his hand and allows his thumb to lightly ghost over my cheekbone. “Why were you thinking about me last night?”

For a moment, I nearly tell him all about what I heard my mom talking about last night and my suspicions. But then I remember that I’m stronger than this. I can’t cave in just because a ridiculously attractive boy caresses my face and asks something personal. “I was worried about you. I felt guilty. I wanted to see you again.” Derek’s other hand finds its way to the back of my neck. My hands grab onto his waist.

He leans in and lightly presses his lips to mine. Then he leans away. Not enough. It’s not enough. As if he can sense my despair, Derek slightly smiles and leans in again. When he kisses me for the second time, I dig my fingers into his torso and clutch him closer to me. I never want to stop kissing him. The feeling of his lips pressed to mine is nearly inexplicable. I can barely form a coherent thought, and when I can, it is only that I don’t want him to stop kissing me.

Unfortunately, he does stop. Derek grabs my hands and pries them from his shirt. He steps away from me with a smirk. “What were you saying about werewolves and hunters being together?”

“I’m not a hunter,” I say automatically. “So it doesn’t really matter.”

“Nice try. You should go home now.” Derek turns away from me.

“Whoa, wait. You can’t just kiss me and then kick me out.” I walk up behind him and grab onto his arm.

He slowly turns around and I see that his eyes are glowing blue. “I’m just trying to keep you safe,” Derek says. When he talks, I get a good glimpse of his fangs. “Seriously, you should go.”

“Fine. But this isn’t over,” I warn as I leave.

As the front door closes behind me, I swear that I can hear Derek mutter something. “Good.”

I drive to the Stilinski’s house so that I can tell Stiles what’s been happening. “Stiles?” I find Stiles sitting at his desk and staring at a phone. “You okay?”

“Lydia had a video of the Alpha escaping from the video store on her phone, and I deleted it,” Stiles says quietly.

“Does she remember anything?”

“Not that I can tell. What’s up with you? You look flushed and your hair is unusually out of place,” Stiles observes.

“Derek kissed me.” Stiles raises his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, I know. It was kind of unexpected, but not unwelcome.”

“So then why are you here?”

“He started to turn, and told me to leave. He said he didn’t want to hurt me.” I collapse onto Stiles’ bed and stare up at the ceiling.

“Who would’ve thought that the big, bad wolf had a heart?” Stiles jokes. I try to ignore him, but fail. I start laughing. Stiles starts to laugh as well, and continues making jabs at Derek.

Allison and I might be growing closer, but our friendship would be so much more different. It would be guarded. With Stiles, we can just be ourselves and talk about anything. He’s my only human ally in this awful town, and I am so thankful that he is.


	3. Locked In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mercedes, Scott, Stiles, and Derek go to the school and are attacked by the Alpha, only to find Lydia, Allison, and Jackson there as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! I've had a lot of personal stuff going on, and actually forgot I was writing this fanfic for other people! I'm currently on Chapter 12 so there's a lot to catch up on! I'll try to update weekly.

My phone vibrates, signifying an incoming call. For entirety of today I’ve been doing everything I can to get Derek out of my head. If I was going to be with him, then I’d be a hypocrite and an idiot. Stiles had called last night just to talk.

And now Stiles was calling me again. The sun had already gone down, and I was lounging in bed and reading my economics book. “Hey, Stiles, what’s going on?”

“Scott and I are coming to pick you up,” Stiles says. His voice sounds distant.

“Why? What’s going on?” I get out of my bed and go to the closet. I’ve already changed out of my normal clothes and washed my face and hair in preparation for sleep. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m turning onto your street,” Stiles says.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath as I close my closet door. I don’t have enough time to get changed into other clothes, and Stiles sounds urgent. “Park two houses down. I’ll be out in a minute.” I hang up without waiting for a response. I root through my drawers for a mesh, lacy bra that’s comfortable. I finally find one and slip it on underneath my casual t-shirt. I decide to wear the leggings I have on and put on my black Doc Martens. Then I comb my hair out and quickly braid it so that it’s pulled tight against my head like a braided bun. It’s messy, but at this point I don’t really care.

I open my window and slide out. There’s a large portion of the roof right below my windowsill, so I step onto that. Then I jump to the ground, landing with a soft thud. I jog to where Stiles is parked and climb in.

“Hey,” I say as I buckle my seat belt.

“Nice outfit,” Stiles says with a laugh.

“Thanks, nice car,” I retort. Stiles glares at me in the rearview mirror, causing Scott to laugh. “So where are we going? And why?”

“To the school. We’re meeting Derek.” Stiles steps on the gas and starts driving.

“Great,” I groan.

“I thought you liked him?” Scott asks.

“Stiles, you told?” Stiles shrugs. “Whatever. I do, but I thought it’d just be us, so it didn’t matter what I looked like.”

“If it’s any consolation, you still look beautiful,” Stiles says. “You’ll see why we’re going to the school. Your boyfriend’s an asshole, by the way.”

“I’m well aware of that.” We pull haphazardly into the school’s parking lot. “Excellent parking job.”

“Shut up.” Stiles says as he climbs out of his Jeep. “Are you sure this will work?” Stiles asks Scott. Scott gets out of the Jeep.

“No. Do you have something that can get us inside?” Scott asks. Stiles pulls out something that looks like a hedge cutter. I get out as well. “Here he is.” Derek pulls up in his car and gets out, immediately moving towards me. “Where’s my boss?”

“He’s in the back,” Derek says and grabs onto my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him close to me. He tilts his head down and kisses me softly. I sigh into his mouth as he nibbles on my lower lip. I wish we were alone right now.

“He looks comfortable,” Stiles says. I pull away from Derek and peer in the backseat. Scott’s boss is lucky he’s unconscious for this.

“Come on,” Scott says. Stiles grabs onto my arm and leads me towards the school.

“Hey! What’re you doing?” Derek asks.

“You said I was linked to the Alpha. Let’s find out,” Scott says. “I’m going to howl to bring the Alpha here. I’ll do it over the intercom,” he explains to me.

“Why is your boss here?”

“Derek thinks he’s the Alpha. I don’t.” We reach the main office and Stiles prepares the intercom. I watch Scott intently. Scott picks up the microphone and takes a deep breath. I hold my breath in anticipation. Scott opens his mouth and lets out a sound that reminds me of a dying animal. “That was okay, right? It was a howl, right?”

Stiles puts his head in his hands. “Yeah, technically.”

“Scott, maybe you should try again,” I suggest with a smile.

“Why, what’d it sound like to you?” Scott asks me.

“Like a cat being strangled,” Stiles offers. I nod, agreeing.

“How am I supposed to do this?”

“Listen to me. You’re calling the Alpha. Be a man. Be a werewolf. Not a teen wolf. Be a werewolf.” Stiles slaps his back and backs away. Scott takes another breath and   
howls. And this time, it’s for real. It’s loud and honestly, scares me a little bit.

We walk out to the parking lot proudly. “I’m going to kill both of you,” Derek says, pointing at Scott and Stiles. “What the hell was that?”

“Why aren’t you going to kill Sadie?” Stiles asks with a frown.

“He likes me more,” I brag and stick my tongue out.

“We didn’t know it would be that loud.” Scott shrugs.

“It was loud. And it was awesome!”

“Shut up,” Derek snaps at Stiles.

“Don’t be such a sour wolf,” Stiles laughs. I elbow him. “What?”

“What’d you do with him?” Scott peers into Derek’s car.

“What?” Derek looks in his car and sees that Scott’s boss is gone. “I didn’t do anything.” Something stabs Derek in the back and lifts him high into the air. Blood gushes from his mouth. I instinctively lift my right hand and grab at the air above my right shoulder, grasping for arrows that aren’t there. I should’ve brought my bow.

“Derek!” I scream.

“Run!” Scott runs. Scott, Stiles, and I turn and run for the main hallway. As soon as we get inside, we slam the door shut. “Lock it!”

“With what?”

“Anything!” I back away from the door, and I can feel my heart beating faster and faster. Stiles darts outside and runs back in. I briefly wonder if I should call my family. But if I do that, then Scott is revealed, and I can’t do that to him.

Scott walks over to me and pulls me away from the lockers. He hands me over to Stiles, who puts an arm around my shoulders. We all stare down the hallway. “What’re we going to do?” They pull me into an empty classroom, ignoring my question.

“The Alpha? It’s your boss! Deaton? He’s a psycho murderer!” Stiles says.

“No, that can’t be!” Scott denies.

“Yes! He disappears, and then ten seconds later, he’s in wolf form and he kills Derek.” Stiles glances at me.

“Derek isn’t dead!” Scott and I say at the same time.

“He was bleeding from his mouth, that doesn’t exactly qualify as a minor injury. We’re on our own.” I want to cry, but if I even let one tear fall, I won’t be able to stop. “We need to make it to my Jeep, and drive away.”

We rush over to the window. “We can’t break the window. It’ll make too much noise.” Scott says. “We just run, really fast. Stiles, what happened to your Jeep? It’s bent!” We stare at Stiles’ Jeep. The hood is literally bent. “Shit.”

A piece of Stiles’ engine comes flying into the room, breaking the window’s gas. “We aren’t going to get away by driving out of here. Not if your Jeep’s battery is right here.”

We move into the hallway. “What room has the least windows?” Stiles asks.

“The locker room!” Scott replies. They start walking away. I sigh and follow.

“The next time we hang out, Stiles, we better be somewhere better than the boy’s locker room!” I snap as we walk into the locker room.

“Call your dad!” Scott tells Stiles.

“No! Let’s take Derek’s car. He has the keys. We can get the keys and leave.”

“And we take Derek,” Scott insists. Stiles shakes his head. Scott deliberately touches my arm, and Stiles’ eyes hone in on the movement.

“Fine, whatever.” Stiles walks over to a door, but Scott grabs onto his arm.

“Wait, I heard something.” Scott pauses and listens intently. “Hide!” Stiles runs and climbs into locker. “What, Stiles, no! Ugh.” Scott climbs into a locker.

I climb into the locker right next to Stiles and nearly gag. This is so not ideal. Footsteps walk towards the lockers and pass right in front of the one Scott is hiding in. The footsteps pause and walk back, flinging open Scott’s locker. We all leap out, yelling. The janitor screams. “What the hell are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?” I nearly laugh because I’m so relieved. “Get the hell out of here right now!”

“Just let me explain!” Scott begs, but the janitor shoves us out of the locker room. “Please!” The Alpha appears behind the janitor and pulls him back into the locker room. His blood is splattered onto the door.

“Run!” I yell, and we all take off running. We run for the nearest exit, only to find we’re barricaded inside. “Son of a bitch,” I mutter.

“I am not dying in a school!” Stiles says. “What does it want?”

“Me. It’s stronger in a pack, according to Derek,” Scott explains. Scott stops walking and stares at something across the quad. The Alpha is standing on the roof. When it realizes it’s been spotted, it runs across the roof towards us. We turn and run as quickly as it can as we hear glass breaking behind us.

We end up shoving a desk against a door to hold the Alpha into a rarely used room in the school. Stiles pokes his head towards the door. Scott punches his arm. “I want to get a look at it! It’s trapped, not getting out,” Stiles says.

“Don’t.” I whisper. Stiles ignores me and peers into the room.

“I’m not scared of it.” A clawed hand slams into the door. “It’s not going anywhere!” There’s a loud crash, and we all look into the room. Judging by the debris falling from the ceiling, the Alpha climbed out. And now he was going to fall through the ceiling, right in front of us.

We start running again. “Nice job, Stiles,” I say. We stop running to catch our breath.

“Do you hear that?” Scott asks. “It sounds like a phone ringing. I know that ring. It’s Allison’s!”

“What?” I slap myself in the forehead. “We are so fucked!”

“I’ll call her, don’t worry!” Stiles calls Allison and hangs up a minute later. “We’re meeting her in the lobby.”

“Why the hell is she here?” I ask as we run to the lobby. I don’t bother slowing down when Allison turns around and sees me with Stiles and Scott. I run straight into her and hug her. “What’re you doing here?”

“What’re you doing here?” Allison asks. “I’m here because Scott asked me to come.” Scott stays silent. “I got a text from you?” We stare at her blankly. “Why do I get the feeling you didn’t send this text?”

“Because I didn’t.” Scott frowns.

Allison’s phone rings again, and she answers. “Where are you?” Lydia and Jackson burst through the door and Allison hangs up her phone.

“Finally.” Lydia sighs. “Can we go now?” Jackson smiles at me. Allison nods at Lydia. There’s a loud thump above us, and we all look up.

“Run!” Scott says. We take off running, and by this time, I am so tired. We make it into the cafeteria, where there are windows covering one wall.

“Scott, what was that?” Allison asks. She sounds like she’s about to cry.

“What did it do to the ceiling?” Lydia asks. I walk over to Stiles, who’s trying to get Scott’s attention and grab onto his hand.

Everyone except for Stiles and I continues to berate Scott with questions that he can’t answer. “It’s Derek, okay?” Scott finally yells. I stare at him, and he stares back at me. “He’s been killing people and now he’s chasing us.” I’m holding onto Stiles’ hand so tightly I’m sure it’s painful for him.

“I’m calling the police,” Lydia says.

“Why is Derek chasing us, why is he killing people?” Allison asks. Scott ignores her. Lydia walks up to the group.

“They hung up on me. They said there was a tip that there would be prank calls regarding break ins at the high school.”

“Is Derek the one who sent her the text?” Lydia asks Scott.

“I don’t know.”

“Is he the one who called the police?” Allison asks Scott.

“I don’t know!” Scott yells. Allison gets a look on her face that I know well. It’s a look that means her feelings are hurt and she’s going to cry.

“Ease up on the throttle,” Stiles says to Scott, moving him away from us. I follow. “Nice job throwing Derek under the bus, by the way.”

“I had to say something! And I just totally bit her head off.”

“And she will totally get over it!” Stiles says.

“He’s right. We have bigger issues,” I say.

“New plan! How about Stiles calls his worthless dad and tells him to send someone with decent aim?” Jackson says. Stiles shakes his head and walks away. “Give me the phone!” Jackson grabs onto Stiles’ shoulder, and Stiles whirls around and punches him in the face. Jackson falls to the ground and Allison runs over to him.

“We need to calm down, okay?” I say. Lydia watches Jackson and Allison closely. Stiles takes out his phone and makes the call. The Alpha begins throwing itself against the door, scaring Lydia. Lydia grabs onto Jackson, Allison grabs onto Scott, and I grab onto Stiles. We run out of the cafeteria and into a chemistry classroom.

Stiles and Scott anxiously discuss escape plans. Allison turns to me. “What are you guys even doing here? And why are you with Scott and Stiles?”

“We were seeking adventure,” I lie. It’s a shitty lie, but the best one I can come up with on the spot. “And Stiles is my friend!”

“Yeah, right,” Allison says, “it’s more likely that you’re trying to tell Scott all of these horrible things about me.”

“Your name didn’t even come up in the conversation, relax.”

“I’m going out there to get the janitor’s keys,” Scott says.

“What? You can’t, not unarmed.” Allison looks at Scott with a worried expression on her face.

Scott picks up a pointer stick and glances at us. “It’s better than nothing! We don’t have anything else.”

“Actually, we do. In that cabinet is everything we need to make a self-igniting Molotov cocktail,” Lydia says. I smile at her while everyone looks at her, bewildered.

“She’s right,” I say.

“I read it somewhere!” I roll my eyes at Lydia.

“We don’t have a key,” Stiles points out. Jackson sighs and breaks the glass with his elbow.

Lydia and I pull out the acids and begin measuring and mixing. “Hand me the sulfuric acid,” Lydia tells Jackson. Jackson reaches out and stares at the two bottles in front of him. He finally picks up one and hands it to Lydia. She mixes it and puts a cork in the top. “Done.” She hands the mixture to Scott.

“You can’t do this! This is insane!” Allison says. Here we go, I think to myself. “You could die, he’s killed three people already!”

“And we’ll be next if someone doesn’t do something!” Allison starts to argue again, but I interrupt.

“Shut up, Allison, just shut up. Scott’s right. We can’t wait here for him to find us. This is our best shot. Scott is strong, and fast. It’ll be alright.” I look over at Scott and suddenly hug him. “If you die, I’ll kill you.”

He smiles at me. “I’ll be back with the keys.” Then he goes to Allison and kisses her lips. She starts crying as he leaves. She looks at me as the door closes.  
“I hate you,” she says. “I hate you, so much.” I blink and walk away from her. Scott is risking his ass to save her damn life, and she’s bitching at me. “I can’t stop my hands from shaking.” I turn around to see Jackson holding her hands and smiling slightly as she cries.

I turn back to the window and stare at the parking lot. “Come on, Scott,” I mutter under my breath. “You can do this.” I don’t know if he can hear me or not, but I hope that he can.

“Jackson, you handed me the sulfuric acid, didn’t you?” Lydia asks.

“Yeah.”

“Because if you didn’t, then it won’t ignite.” I walk over to the two bottles that had been in front of Jackson.

“I gave you exactly what you asked for!” Jackson snaps.

“Yeah, I’m sure you did,” Lydia says. I pick up the bottle Lydia used to make the Molotov cocktail and read the label. It’s definitely not sulfuric acid.

“Lydia? You used acetic acid instead of sulfuric acid.” I look up at her. She stares at me, evidently scared.

“What’s that?” Stiles asks.

“It’s vinegar,” Lydia wails and buries her head in her hands.

“So what does that mean?” Allison asks anxiously.

“It means that the beaker Scott’s holding won’t do anything.” I slam the acetic acid down, causing the container to shatter. “Dammit, Jackson! If you didn’t know, why didn’t you just read the label?” Jackson stays silent. I shake my head and return to my spot at the window. There’s nothing we can do now. Fantastic. There is a quiet click from the door. I instantly know that Scott has locked us into the classroom to protect us. He must have thrown the cocktail, and when it didn’t ignite, realized that he was going to have to deal with the alpha on his own.

Allison completely loses it and begins banging on the door. “Scott!” she screams over and over.

“Quiet!” Lydia says. “Do you hear that?” We all pause and listen to the sirens approaching the school. We rush to the window and see several cop cars pull up. I notice that Derek’s car is gone. It gives me slight hope, but if Scott’s boss wasn’t the Alpha, he could’ve driven it away. But why?

Stiles laces his fingers through mine, and I know that he’s thinking the same thing I am. The cops come and free us from the room, and Stiles is still holding on to me. A man who I assume to be Stiles’ dad walks up to us. “Stiles?”

“Hey, Dad. This is my friend, Mercedes Argent.” I wave to him.

“It’s nice to meet you. Your mom is waiting for you.” Sheriff Stilinski nods his head towards the back of the parking lot.

“Oh fantastic,” I mutter. Scott looks at me funnily. “I snuck out. And now they know.” I sigh. “Stiles, call me when you get home.” He nods and hugs me tightly. I wave to Scott and reach my mother.

“You better have an amazing explanation for this,” Mom hisses. “Seriously, Mercedes, what’s gotten into you? You haven’t been like this since you were dating Ryan. Sneaking out, getting into trouble.”

“This time, trouble found me, Mom. It was the Alpha. It chased us. Stiles and Scott were convinced it was Derek Hale, and for a long time, I thought it was too. But since I was in the back while we were running once, I caught a glimpse of the red eyes. We had a lot of close calls, but the guys never saw it. And then for some unknown reason, Lydia, Jackson, and Allison showed up. Then Scott tried to work out an escape plan and Allison was being stupid and I defended him and she told me she hated me.” Mom stays quiet, listening to my story. The lies make me nervous, but I’m not going to reveal what Scott is. “So, before you try to lecture me, how was your night? Because I spent mine being chased by a murderous werewolf.” The tears start to fall, and Mom holds me close to her.

“I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call us?” she asks.

“We were running most of the time. And I couldn’t exactly be like, no let’s call my gun-nut family instead of the police.” I wipe my face as Allison walks up to us. I notice that she’s nearly crying. “What’s going on?”

“I just broke up with Scott,” she says. “I don’t know what he was thinking tonight, and I don’t really trust him anymore.” Mom sympathetically pats her back.

I look behind us and see Scott staring at Allison from several feet away. I look back at Allison. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”

“Mercedes.” Mom glares at me.

“No, don’t use that tone with me. Allison, you’re an idiot because Scott did everything he could to keep you safe. And yeah, we were kept pretty safe too, but it was mainly   
you. Everything he does is for you! He cares for you in ways no one has ever cared for me. But instead of valuing him, you just shit on him! So, yeah, you’re a fucking idiot, and you don’t deserve Scott. He deserves better.”

“Better, like you?” Allison asks, her voice cutting.

“I said better, not worse, you dipshit,” I snap back at her.

“Alright, you’re both tired, let’s just go home and get some rest, okay?” Mom says. I ignore her and slide into the front seat. When I look back at Scott, I see that he’s gone. My phone vibrates, and I check it. It’s from Stiles. ‘scott says thanks for defending him and that he could hear you while he was getting the keys’. I close my eyes and rest my head on the headrest of my seat. I just want to be back in my warm bed.

 

I wave off my family’s questions and make it up to my bedroom nearly unscathed. My phone rings almost as soon as I close my door. I leave the lights off and sit on my bed. “Hello?” I say into my phone.

“Hey. I just wanted to check up on you,” Stiles says. I can hear the familiar sound of him falling back onto his bed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Really, Stiles, I am.”

“Derek’s car was gone. Do you think he’s alive?”

“Do you?”

Stiles is silent for a few moments before he responds. “He might be. He’s tough.”

“I don’t want to believe anything until I see him for myself.” Stiles makes a noise that I take to be agreement. “I’m really tired, I’m just going to bed now.”

“Alright. If you find you can’t sleep or anything, call me.”

“I will. Night.”

“Sleep tight,” Stiles says.

I smile to myself. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Stiles laughs and hangs up. I toss my phone somewhere on the floor, really not caring at this point. I sit still and try to hold myself together. I’m not sure whether I should even consider Derek being alive at this point. Wishful thinking often doesn’t pan out.  
Just like in the school’s parking lot, I let one tear fall, and others follow it quickly. Before I know it, I’m practically sobbing on my bed. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I curse to myself. “I should’ve done something. Scott should’ve done something. I should’ve brought my bow. I could’ve slowed the Alpha down and taken Derek back to his house and he might not have died.” I try to catch my breath. After a few minutes, I only sniffle occasionally.

The light in the corner of my room, right across from my bed, flicks on, revealing Derek sitting in my chair. “I didn’t realize you cared so much about me.” Derek smiles and stands. I jump up and rush into his arms, pressing my lips against his. Derek’s hands grasp onto my waist so tightly, and I know I’ll have bruises tomorrow. For half a second I wonder if he’s going to change, because I can feel his heart beating quickly against his chest, but I ignore my worries. Derek Hale is alive, and he’s kissing me. If he’s going to change, I trust that he’ll tell me.

Derek gently pushes me back towards my bed as he keeps his lips against mine. I slide my hands across his chest and help him out of his jacket. He grabs his t-shirt by the collar and pulls it off. I allow my hands to ghost over his muscles. He slips his hands underneath my thin t-shirt, his cool hands leaving goosebumps across the hot skin of my back. He doesn’t have to say anything, but I know what his small action of slipping his hands under my shirt means.

I take a small step back and grasp onto the hem of my t-shirt. I pull it off over my head, and Derek’s hands are instantly helping me. He wraps one arm around my waist and nudges me backwards. I sit down at the edge of my bed and look up at Derek. He cradles my face softly. I wiggle away from him, further up onto my bed and lay down. Derek stares at me, and I know what he sees. My hair is splayed out around my head, my cheeks are flushed from kissing him, and my skin is smooth and pale.  
It doesn’t seem like he’s going to move for a while, so I decide to speed him up. I kick off my Doc Martens and pull off my leggings. They both get tossed in a random direction. Derek starts to unbuckle his pants and kicks them off quickly. Then he climbs onto my bed towards me. He starts kissing me again as he grabs onto my left thigh. His hand falls to the back of my knee, and hitches it up on his waist. He grinds himself into me, causing me to moan softly into his mouth.  
Derek sits up suddenly, breathing heavily. His eyes are glowing blue. “I can’t do this,” he groans. “I’m so sorry.”

I sit up so we’re face to face. I stroke his cheek. “Don’t be,” I say quietly as I kiss him again. “It’s not an issue.”

“I’ve been practicing keeping my heart rate down whenever it goes up for something other than my anger.” Derek flushes and averts his eyes. I raise my eyebrows as I realize what he means.

“Don’t they say that if you do that too often, you’ll grow hair on your hand?” Derek gives me an irritated look, and I laugh. I lean back against the pillows and watch him closely. “Seriously, though, that sounds a lot hotter than it should.”

“Yeah?” Derek says shyly. I smile at him and stand so I can look for my shirt. I pull it on. “I should let you go to sleep,” he says. I climb under my covers and look up at him. He stands and pulls on his clothes. Then he comes over to my bed and kisses my forehead. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay.” Derek slips through the window right next to my bed. I close my eyes and fall asleep quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> -M3


	4. Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mercedes and Kate tell Allison the truth about the Argent family; Derek is held captive; Mercedes makes a split decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm finally posting a new chapter relatively on time! For once...

The last few days have been painstakingly boring for me. I’ve gone to school, come home, done my homework, made out with Derek, and then go to bed. I’ve been totally out of the loop, and Stiles has been trying to fill me in. Apparently, Scott’s mom’s computer at work was used to send the text to Allison. The Alpha is actually Derek’s uncle, and my family is convinced that Jackson is the second beta.

Lydia and Scott kissed, which Stiles told me he was pissed about, but he understood that it was because of the full moon. Allison knew about the kiss and my mom left her a specific type of arrow that I love to use. It explodes upon impact. Allison’s getting closer to figuring out what our family really does. And, according to the texts I just received from Stiles, Derek tried to kill Jackson before the hunters attacked the Hale house.

My phone vibrates, and I answer it. “Hello?”

“Mercedes, I need you to come over to the Hale house,” Mom says. “I’m going to tell Allison the truth about our family, and I think you should be here.”

“She’s still pissed at me, Mom. But if you think my being there is a good idea, then I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the front door. Oh yeah, and I wanted to talk to you about that boy you had in your room the night of the incident at school.”

“What?”

“Is it Stiles?”

“Yes, Mom, I’ll explain later, okay?” I lie.

“Fine. But be here!” Mom hangs up, and I grab a black backpack and throw my stuff in it. Then I zip up the ankle boots I wore to school today. After the school incident a few days ago, I’ve been waiting until I’m actually going to sleep to take my shower and change into my pajamas. Today I wore a leather bralet and a super cute skirt, but now I pull on leather jeans and a ripped oversized shirt with the bralet underneath. I don’t know why, but lately I’ve had a thing for leather.

I drive and meet my mom in the front yard of the Hale house. “I have to admit,” I say as I climb out of my car. “I’m glad that you’re getting along so well with the werewolves in this town.”

“You know me, always the social one.” Mom laughs and gives me a hug. “Look, here comes Allison.”

We turn and wave to Allison. “What is she doing here?” Allison asks angrily.

“Your cousin already knows what I’m about to tell you. She’s here for moral support.” Mom hugs Allison. She leads us underground in the Hale house. I never knew there was a tunnel here.

“What is this place?” Allison asks. Mom leads our trio, then Allison is in the middle, and I bring up the rear.

“Let’s start with the basics,” Mom says. “You know how every family has its secrets? Ours are a little different.”

I join Mom in opening the door, slightly enjoying Allison’s confused face. Suddenly, I am confused as well. What is Mom going to do? And why are we here? We pull the door open, and Allison slowly walks in. There is the outline of a person on the wall, chained up. “What the hell is this?” I hiss to Mom.

“You’ll see,” she whispers back. Allison stops once she’s side by side with us. Mom turns on the light, revealing a werewolf on the wall. Allison gasps and takes a few steps back. The werewolf growls, making me take a couple steps back as well. What the fuck is my mom doing, keeping a werewolf captive? “Isn’t he beautiful?” Mom asks.  
Allison backs away. I get a closer look at the wolf, and realize that it’s Derek. My stomach turns at the uncomfortable situation I’m in. “What’re you doing with Derek Hale?” 

I ask. Derek stops growling and watches Mom and me carefully.

“I need to find the Alpha, and he can help me.” Mom shrugs.

“Okay, but what happened to good old fashioned asking? Mom, this is why Uncle Chris doesn’t trust you!”

“She’s your mom?” Derek asks, surprised.

“Shut it, dog!” Mom snaps.

I roll my eyes at her. “Oh, please, I get that when you lived here it was a well-kept secret that you got pregnant at sixteen, but please, spare me the theatrics. If you don’t let him go, I’m going to have to tell Chris.”

“Chris already knows. He gets why I’m doing this.” I sigh. She turns up the voltage on the electrical box that has wires attached to Derek.

“What are you doing? Is that going to kill him?” Allison asks as Derek yells. I want to cover my ears.

“Oh, come on kiddo, don’t get all ethical on me now.” Mom laughs.

“What is he?” Allison asks me.

“Shapeshifter, lycan, werewolf. Any of those fit,” I say stiffly. Derek glares at me and Mom laughs again. I know that he thinks I’ve betrayed him, but I’m just trying to keep us both safe.

“To me, he’s just another dumb animal.” Mom turns up the voltage again.

“Charming, Mom. Remind me why you’re single?”

“Mercedes, please.” She beckons Allison to come closer and moves Derek’s lips so Allison can see his fangs. “These are canines, also called fangs. Those aren’t something you’d see on those cute little herbivores, right?”

“Is this a joke to you?” Allison asks, and for a moment I want to hug her for being so completely Allison.

“Sweetheart, there are werewolves running around in the world. Everything’s a joke to me. How else do you think I stay sane?”

“So it was him who attacked everyone, him at the high school?”

“There are actually three. Another younger one like him, called the beta, and then there’s the Alpha, the pack leader.”

“That’s the one that chased us at the school. It’s bigger, faster, and nastier,” I chime in. Mom leads Allison out.

“When were they going to tell me?” Allison asks.

“They still hadn’t decided if they were going to tell you.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say that if you react badly when you find out, not good. They don’t think you can handle it. You said you wanted to feel more powerful, right? Now’s your chance. You just need to act like a normal teenage girl who doesn’t know anything. At least, until the second part.”

“What’s the second part?”

“You’re going to help me catch the beta.” Mom gives me a condescending smile.

“I think I just need some time,” Allison mutters as she walks away. I follow Mom back into the room where she’s holding Derek.

“You really screwed up this time,” I remark.

“Maybe you should go and make sure Allison’s okay.”

“Are you kicking me out?” I ask in disbelief.

“Well, this is a hunters-only operation, and you’ve made it painstakingly clear that you are not a hunter.” Mom smirks at me.

If I try to force her to let me stay, she’ll know that something’s up with Derek and I. Unfortunately, she can read me scarily well. “Fine.” I turn to walk away, but make sure she can hear me before I leave. “Bitch.” I hear Derek laugh.

 

The following day, I hurry over to Scott’s house. I see Mrs. McCall parked in front of the house and I hear her crying. “Mrs. McCall?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Why are you crying?”

“Who the hell are you?” she snaps as she wipes her eyes.

“I’m Mercedes Argent, Allison’s cousin. I came here to talk to Scott. Is everything alright?”

“Sorry, I’m just upset over a date that went wrong. I thought I was finally going to not be alone, but I was wrong.” I listen to her carefully.

“If I was you, Mrs. McCall, I wouldn’t worry a bit. You’re totally gorgeous, and from what Scott’s told me, you’re caring too.”

She looks at me. “Thank you. That’s really kind of you.”

“It’s true.” I shrug. “Is Scott inside?”

“Yes, he is. And Mercedes, would you do me a favor?” I nod. “Don’t tell him you saw my crying.”

I feel bad for her. Knowing Scott, he’s been listening in on her since she drove up. “I promise.” As I walk into Scott’s house, Stiles is walking out. He smiles at me and leaves in his Jeep. I find Scott’s room easily and see that he’s been waiting for me. “Your mom’s nice.”

“Just…what’re you here for?”

“I had to tell you that last night, my mom showed Allison a werewolf and told her about our family.”

“Wait, what werewolf did she show Allison?” Scott asks urgently.

“I think you know which one,” I say. “I have to hurry back to Derek’s house, they’re keeping him there. I’ll help you stage a breakout, but right now, I’m going to try to keep her from torturing him.”

“Alright, go, we’ll figure something out.”

 

I’m cautiously walking into the basement when I hear Derek speaking. “Are you going to torture me, or are you just going to talk me to death?”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t want to torture you. I just wanna catch up.” Mom laughs a little. They know each other? “Remember all the fun we had together?”

“Like the time we burned my family alive?”

“No I was thinking more about the hot, crazy sex we had.” I peek around the corner and nearly trip over myself. “But the fire thing, that was fun too.” Derek lunges at her, but he can’t free himself. “I love how much you hate me. Remember how this felt?”

I walk into the room, and Derek looks at me, panicked. He squeezes his eyes shut at whatever Mom does. She backs away from teasing him and he growls at her, his fangs exposed.

“Mom?”

“I thought I told you to go home and stay away from here.” She notices that I’m nearly crying. “Wait, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say too quickly.

“Sadie, I can explain!” Derek says, tugging at his restraints.

“Sadie?” Mom looks at me as the evidence comes together in her mind. “It’s not Stiles that was in your room the night the Alpha chased you down at the school, it was Derek.” I shrug. “And now you’ve just found out that your big, bad boyfriend used to love me.”

“I don’t remember you saying that exactly.”

“But you’ll always remember that I had him first.” Mom smiles at me. “I bet now you’re doing the math in your head. I was twenty six when we still lived here. That’s when the fire took place. So I was years older than Derek. Yeah, but can you blame me? I always knew he’d grow up in all the right places.”

“You’re sick, you know that?” I say.

“We may not always get along, but I know that right now, you’re really freaking pissed at him.” I stay silent. “So I’ll give you a choice. Free him, and have our family hate you forever, but hey, you’ll get your mother’s sloppy seconds. Or you can walk away right now, and be free from him. Free from a life with werewolves. You can be a normal teenage girl.”

“I can never be a normal teenage girl, and you know that.”

“You can try.” I glance at Derek, but his head is hanging down. “Just don’t kill him.” Mom raises an eyebrow. “If you don’t kill him, then you’ll be following the code, like you’re supposed to.” I take one more look at Derek and turn to leave. I can’t help but feel that I made the wrong choice out of anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it, I'll post chapter five next week!


	5. A Formal Engagement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Beacon Hills High School formal takes an interesting turn of events as Lydia is attacked and Mercedes's world is changed forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S/o to the awesome reader who left a comment on my last chapter and inspired me to post this!

It’s literally the day of the formal, and I don’t have a dress or a real date. So fucking typical. I close my locker and notice a boy standing a few lockers away from me. I’ve noticed that he’s on the lacrosse team and in a few of my classes. I get a text from Allison. ‘im making lydia go 2 formal with stiles. She said she will set u up with someone. Btw we r going 2 have 2 talk about the lycan thing sometime’. I sigh. Great, I’d been planning on going with Stiles, just casually. But there was no way I was going to deny him a chance to dance with Lydia. I look back at the boy. He’s better than whatever jock Lydia’s going to set me up with. I walk up to him and put on my best smile.

“Hi. I’m Mercedes Argent,” I say.

He grins nervously at me. “I’m Isaac Lahey. No offense, but why are you talking to me?”

“What do you mean?” Isaac has curly hair and a sweet smile. Why the hell wouldn’t a girl want to talk to him?

“People like you never talk to me. Lydia, Jackson, Tristian.” As if he’s said something wrong, Isaac looks away.

“Well I’m not like them. And I was wondering if you were going to the formal tonight?” Isaac blushes. “I was going to go with my friend, Stiles, but Lydia’s going with him, and he’s totally in love with her, and Jackson’s going with Allison, and Scott isn’t allowed to go… Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“I wasn’t planning on going. But it does sound like fun.” We smile at each other and exchange numbers.

“I’ll pick you up?” Isaac asks.

I nod. “Thanks for doing this. You’re really sweet.”

Isaac shrugs. “When a pretty girl asks if you want to go to a dance, you always say yes.” I laugh. “Bye!”

“Bye.” I send a text to Allison. ‘I found my own date, suck it. isaac lahey from the lacrosse team’ I hurry home so I can drive with Allison and Lydia to the mall to go shopping for our dresses. According to Allison, Lydia doesn’t know yet about her new date. I end up choosing a light pink dress that compliments my skin nicely.

 

Isaac picks me up thirty minutes before the dance. My aunt Victoria waves to us. “I didn’t know you were related to Allison,” he says. “You don’t look anything like her.”

“Yeah, my mom and I are living with them for the time being.” Isaac looks nervous. “Are you okay?” I ask. We’re already pulling into the school’s parking lot.

“I’m just nervous. I’ve never really been to a fancy dance like this. I’m not used to wearing a suit,” Isaac explains.

“I love dances, especially the fancy ones. And don’t worry, you look good in a suit.” Isaac finds a parking spot with ease and gets out of the car. He opens my door for me.

I see that Stiles has just parked next to us. “Milady,” Stiles says with a bow.

“Good sir,” I respond with a curtsy. Then Stiles goes and opens the door for Lydia. She climbs out and smiles at me. “Come on,” I say to Isaac.

“You don’t want to wait for your friends?” he asks.

“Not really. I’m trying to stay away from them, actually. I just need a break from the Lydia-Jackson drama I’m sure there will be. I even need a break from my cousin’s and Scott’s drama.” We make it into the gym and start dancing.

After a little while, I can hear Coach Finstock screaming Scott’s last name, which makes Isaac laugh. “I see what you mean about needing a break.”

“It’s like a never ending shit storm,” I agree.

The night flies by and the dance ends quickly. I notice that Jackson, Scott, Allison, Lydia, and Stiles are nowhere to be found. There’s obviously something going on, but at the moment, I really don’t care.

Isaac walks me to my front door and smiles shyly at me. “Thank you for asking me to go with you.”

“Thanks for actually coming with me,” I say. Isaac looks uncertain for a moment, and then he leans down to kiss me. “Isaac, I should’ve told you this before. I’m seeing someone, but he’s…not from around here.” I want to kick myself the moment I speak. I shouldn’t be lying to him. I shouldn’t have to. More importantly, why am I still saying that I’m seeing Derek? “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be one of those girls who leads people on, but…”

“But you’re one of those girls who leads people on,” Isaac smiles at me. “Don’t worry about it, Mercedes. I should’ve guessed.” I stand on my tiptoes, wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss his cheek. Isaac hugs me back and pulls away first, waving goodbye. “Oh, and Sadie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for being so nice to me.” Then Isaac gets in his car and drives away. Before I can go inside, my phone starts ringing. I check the caller ID and see that it’s Jackson. I immediately answer.

“Hey, Jackson, what’s up?”

“It’s Lydia,” Jackson says. He may have everyone else fooled with his ‘I’m completely over Lydia’ act, but I’m not. No one can get over Lydia that quickly. “Lydia’s hurt! She was attacked and was all bloody and I took her to the hospital. I need you to get here, now, so that she has someone with her when she wakes up.”

“Why can’t you just stay? Or is that something the old you would do?” To be honest, I’m sick and tired of hearing Jackson talk about how he’s reinventing himself. Jackson sucks in a breath and I know he’s angry with me.

“Just get here, now,” he snaps. He hangs up and I decide to go inside and pack some clothes. I have no clue how long I would be there with Lydia. I also have no clue who would attack Lydia Martin during a formal dance.

When I get inside, I’m greeted by a hectic scene. Chris is arguing with Mom, Victoria is shoving suitcases into Allison’s arm, and everyone is yelling. “Hey!” I say loudly. “What the hell is going on?”

It goes silent, and my mom looks at me. “Scott is a werewolf and turned in front of Allison.”

“Why would he do that?” I ask, ignoring the first part of her sentence.

“Did you know that he was a werewolf?” Allison asks at the same time her dad begins to speak.

“We exposed him.”

“Yeah, I knew,” I shrug. Mom opens her mouth to yell at me but I cut her off before she can. “If you want to keep me out of your business, I’ll keep you out of mine.” I smile at her. “Maybe you’ll learn that.” Everyone is silently glaring at me. “Well, I need to go pack a bag.”

“You are not coming with us!” Mom shrieks at me.

“Obviously. I’m staying at the hospital for a few days. Lydia’s been attacked by someone.” I walk to my room and hear heavy footsteps follow me.

“The Alpha attacked Lydia,” Chris says quietly. “I thought you deserve to know. Kate and Allison just left for the hospital. I will drive you there myself.” Before I can thank him, I hear him walk back down the stairs.

I don’t even bother to change, and throw random clothes into my duffel bag. Chris is waiting for me, and he speeds the entire way to the hospital. There, we find Lydia in shock. Doctors are constantly rushing in and out of her room. She was clearly bitten, and I know that it is only a matter of time until she turns.

“Sadie!” Stiles calls. He runs up to me and hugs me tightly. Jackson sulks up behind him. “Peter wanted to find Derek. I had to tell him.”

I touch his arm. “It’s fine, Stiles. Derek can handle himself. Where’s Scott?”

“Yes where is Scott?” Chris asks. The tone in his voice is sinister.

“You know what, I have no clue.” Stiles laughs uncomfortably.

“Same here,” Jackson lies.

“There’s nothing scarier than seeing a friend turn into a werewolf. I’m sure you’ve had to lock Scott up to save yourself during the full moon, right, Stiles?” Chris asks. Chris is a master manipulator, but only when he feels it is necessary.

“There’s nothing scarier than seeing people who live by a code break it by setting a house on fire,” Stiles retorts.

Chris looks at Stiles angrily. The anger fades from his face as he realizes something. “Mercedes, come on! We need to get to the Hale house!”

“What? Why?” I ask as he starts running back to his car. “What’s going on?”

“That’s where Kate will be!” I understand what he’s saying. There’s no way my mom would just leave town and protect Allison. She would want Allison to kill the werewolves herself.

We get to the Hale house just in time. Mom is raising a gun to shoot Scott. Chris leaps out of the car. I run to Scott. “Is Derek alright?”

“I don’t know,” Scott says, his eyes on Mom and Chris.

“There’s no proof that Scott has killed anyone. I know what you did to the Hales six years ago.”

“I did what I was supposed to!” Mom insists.

“No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in there. Werewolves and humans in the house! Put your gun down!” Mom shakes her head. “Fine.” He pulls his own gun and aims it at her.

There is a growl, and the Alpha begins to circle us. Chris is knocked to the ground, and almost immediately after, I am knocked over. I let out a cry, and judging by the pain in my ankle, it’s sprained. Mom is dragged into the house. Allison runs into the house. I try to drag myself to follow her, but Chris touches my arm.

“You’ll hurt yourself even more.” I rest my forehead on my arm. Scott runs into the house, and Allison stumbles out of the house. She runs to us, muttering incoherently. Scott and Peter are fighting, while Derek is laying, hurt. Everything is happening so fast. I think I might not even be entirely conscious right now.

Stiles and Jackson pull up. Jackson throws a Molotov cocktail at Peter, which he catches. Scott tosses Allison her bow, and she shoots an arrow at the beaker, causing it to explode. Peter begins to burn.

I look away and see Allison and Scott kissing. I can’t help but smile at them. Scott deserves to be happy. I look back. Derek is standing over Peter. “Wait, Derek! The cure comes from the one who bit you! I need to kill him!” Scott yells frantically.

Derek ignores Scott and slices Peter’s throat. He turns towards us and his eyes glow red. We all freeze for a moment. I am the one to break the silence. “Allison, what happened? Where’s my mom?” Allison just looks at me sadly. “What? Where is she?” Allison shakes her head. I leap up and run towards the house, ignoring Allison’s and Chris’ yells behind me. Mom is laying on the floor, her eyes open and her throat bloody. “Mom?” I whisper. I find myself walking forward. I crouch down and touch her hair lightly.

I have no lost feelings of love for this woman, but she is still my mother. No, she was still my mother. It will take a long time to correct myself when it comes to talking about her in the past. I think of all the things she will never see. She will never see me graduate high school or get married or have a child. She will be forever stuck at this age. She is dead.

I walk out of the house and find everyone looking at me expectantly. Why are they all looking at me like that? Like they’re waiting for me to cry? “Sadie…” Derek says quietly, and then trails off. I know I must look careless to them.

I look steadily at everyone. Jackson watches me sadly, Stiles and Chris look understanding, Scott looks bewildered, Allison is glaring at me through her tears, and Derek looks emotionless. “Stop looking at me like that!” I scream at them.

Scott stands and walks towards me. “It’s alright to be mad, or sad.”

“I’m not!” I yell again, causing Scott to flinch.

“Mercedes, your mom…” Scott begins, but I hold up my hand and shake my head. I let my hand fall and look at Peter’s dead body. I force myself to look away.

“Well, the bitch deserved it,” I say simply. Allison gasps. I turn to walk home. I need some time to think on my own. As I leave, I can hear Allison screaming horrible things at me, things like how I didn’t deserve to be Mom’s child. But I don’t care. I really don’t. I don’t care that my mother is dead. I don’t care that my entire life turned to shit in exactly two hours.

I don’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought!


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